German renewables developer PNE posted operating profit of less than €1m in the first half of the year, compared with almost €13m last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the company.
Operating profit was €0.6m in the first six months of the year, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to €9.0m from €18.5m in 2019.
Group generated sales stood at €62.4m, down from €65.6m in the first six months of last year.
PNE said the first half of 2020 was marked by the Corona pandemic and its effects.
“PNE has adapted to this situation with concepts aligned with the respective markets,” the company said.
“Despite a sudden changeover to working from home for a period of around six weeks until May, the operational development made good progress.
“Projects were further developed, tenders won and the construction of further projects started.”
PNE said the results are on target and it expects EBITDA of €15m to €20m and EBIT of €5m to €10m for the group in fiscal 2020.
PNE chief executive Markus Lesser said: “Due to the Corona pandemic, the first half of the 2020 fiscal year was one of the most challenging and unusual in the company’s history.
“However, we have successfully managed this situation, made further operational progress and performed well financially.”
At the end of the first half of the year, PNE had a total of approximately 293.7MW of wind energy projects under construction on its own account or for customers.
PNE said it intends to further strengthen its in-house wind farm operations.
It currently operates projects with 130.1MW.
The plans are to expand the portfolio of internally operated projects, primarily in Germany, to up to 500MW by the end of 2023.
Overall, PNE’s pipeline of onshore wind projects is 5176MW.
It also has 232MW of solar farms in development.